Re: cross-platform source code editor

[John Stoneham <captnjameskirk@moc.oohay>]

Georg Bauhaus wrote:

> There is a certain precursory learning investment
> necessary before using any powerful IDE that goes
> beyond colors, compiler buttons, and jumping to errors.
> 
> It's worth it, but if you want to start in a hurry,
> without learning, Emacs/ada-mode will be frustrating,
> like anything of its class.
> 
> - georg

I take it that you are happy using emacs. That's fine, and I am pretty sure 
you are not in the minority. If you enjoy using it, there is no reason not 
to continue doing so. But for the record, I don't believe in doing 
something "in a hurry, without learning". Over the past 4 years, I have 
spent quite a bit of time with emacs. I know how to use it and *have* used 
it for the complete edit/compile/debug/repeat cycle on more than one 
project. My point is that I just don't like it. I want my source code 
editor to be *pleasant* to use, and yes, to look at. Using emacs makes me 
feel like I'm a surgeon in the Civil War using ether as my general 
anesthetic. I just don't think the product justifies the learning curve 
here, at least for me.

I don't believe that my opinion about emacs makes me any less of a 
programmer. I *do* want more than "colors, compiler buttons, and jumping to 
errors", and I think that the combination of Glade, SciTE, and GVD makes 
for a more user-friendly and ultimately more *productive* development 
environment than emacs.

But that's just me :-)

-- 
John Stoneham
(to email, reverse the domain)